Nuggets struggling from free throw line

Denver last in league at charity stripe

Denver's free throws have had such a devilish hex on the team, it's only fitting that the Nuggets' shooting percentage is 66.6.

It's been foul shooting, indeed. That number is worst in the league. Miami, ranked 15th and thus the middle-of-the-road team in the league, shoots 75.4 percent, close to 10 percentage points higher. Folks can say that Denver lost Monday's game at Utah in the final seconds, but really the game was lost in the final minutes. In the last five minutes of the 105-103 loss, Denver was 1-for-5 from the line.

The free-throw shooting is changing the course of games. Overall on Monday, Denver made 18-of-32 attempts. That's 56.3 percent. That's like Shaquille O'Neal.

"I've been working on it, everyone else has been working on it in the gym too, but I've been working extremely hard because I have been low on my free-throw percentage," said Nuggets forward Kenneth Faried, who was actually Denver's best foul shooter Monday, going 5-for-6. "I was doing well on them (Monday), and I missed that one (late) that should have tied the game. It was extremely frustrating."

There's no secret solution to making foul shots. Denver does have a practice today, before heading on the road for games Thursday at the Warriors and Friday at the Lakers.

Perhaps what's most disturbing is the effort at the line from the guards, who traditionally shoot better than big men. On Monday, Ty Lawson, Andre Iguodala and Andre Miller were a combined 6-for-12.

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Looking forward

It's just weird, but the Nuggets (8-7) have lost three, won four, lost three, won four -- and now they've lost one, heading into two tricky road games, at loud-crowd Golden State and at the star-studded Lakers. The positive-thinking Nuggets hope they learned a lesson in Monday's maddening loss at Utah, where Denver missed free throws, high-percentage shots and opportunities on defense.

"I thought we fought and stayed right in it, I think it's a game we'll learn from, learn (about) courage," Nuggets coach George Karl told reporters after the game at Energy Solutions Arena. "To win in this building, it's a physical and mental fight."

They surely learned a lesson about their final possession, when they tried to tie the game with Lawson. Down two, Lawson penetrated from the top of the key but was swarmed by defenders in the low-post. He didn't have a good feel for the clock in the final three seconds, refused to dump it off to Kosta Koufos in the paint and didn't have the presence of mind to at least hoist something toward the basket. And thus, Denver didn't even get a shot off before the buzzer.

As for his team's defense on Lawson in the paint, Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin said, "All the guys were switching off on him (Lawson) and making sure it was difficult for him to beat us over the top. ... Just making him work for everything he got. And I thought that slowed the tempo of their team down and knocked them off rhythm a little bit."

Frustrating techs

Karl made a strong statement postgame Monday about Iguodala, who was ejected after his second technical for running his mouth. This happened with 3:24 left in the third, following Utah's 14-2 run to tie the game.

"You can't get technicals and kicked out of big games on the road," Karl said. "You can't."

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